With the New York Rangers offense struggling to generate
consistently, as usual, to start the season the focus has shifted to specific
players who are underachieving. The main
player seeming to take the brunt of the discussion is Brandon Dubinsky, who has
zero goals in the Rangers opening six games.
Coming off a career year, plus a new contract, much is expected of
Dubinsky offensively this season, so it is not surprising to see his lack of
goals make him a target. Dubinsky being
a target for the New York fan base is nothing new as he has been a consistent
player turned to as underachieving over his career for whatever reason. What has always been more interesting is that
while Dubinsky is normally taking heat, Ryan Callahan always seems to get a
free pass and is getting one again from many who follow the team.
Dubinsky has zero goals and too many bad penalties, but he
also has three assists while getting 19:09 of ice time per game. Callahan on the other hand has one point, a
goal in the season opener, while playing 20:56 a night. Where are the cries of Callahan
underachieving on his new contract as there are for Dubinsky? In the past Callahan’s free pass for lack of
offense was always about the fact that he was bringing energy to the team
through his hitting and shot blocking, but even that has been severely lacking
this year, outside of the opener.
The fact is that both of the Rangers heart and soul forwards
have failed to live up to the way they played last season and the contracts
they got this summer so far. Their line,
along with Artem Anisimov, after being the top line on the team last season
seemingly has been left over in Sweden as there impact has been negative thus
far. All three are struggling individually
and together they are not the factor the Rangers need them to be if they are
going to be successful.
Two years ago the Rangers had primary scoring and no secondary
scoring. Last season all the secondary
players had career years and the primary one, Marian Gaborik, had a down
year. Now the Rangers have reverted to
two years ago with Gaborik and Richards doing their part while secondary
offense has dried up once again. The
problem goes beyond Dubinsky and Callahan as Stepan, Fedotenko and Anisimov all
have no goals and Brian Boyle has one, however the focus of the blame seems to
be resting on the shoulders of Dubinsky alone.
There is no justifiable reason to single him out while giving the rest a
pass on their play thus far. They all
need to be better if the Rangers are going to succeed this season, so let us
hold them all accountable when they fail to do so.
